1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connector configured so as to fix a signal transmission medium by moving an actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in various electric apparatuses and others, various electric connectors are widely used to electrically connect various signal transmission media such as a flexible printed circuit (FPC) and a flexible flat cable (FFC). For example, in an electric connector for use as being mounted on a printed wiring board as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-71160, a signal transmission medium formed of an FPC, an FFC, or the like is inserted into the inside of an insulating housing (an insulator) from its opening on a front end side, and then an actuator (connecting operation device) held at a “connection release position” is rotated so as to be, for example, pushed down, toward a connecting action position on a front side or a rear side of the connector with an operating force of an operator.
When the actuator (connecting operation device) is operated to be rotated to a “connection acting position”, a cam member provided in the actuator presses conductive contacts. With this, the conductive contacts are displaced to be in press-contact with the signal transmission medium (such as FPC or FFC), thereby fixing the signal transmission medium. On the other hand, when the actuator at the “connection acting position” is rotated toward the original “connection release position” so as to, for example, rise upward, the conductive contacts are displaced so as to be spaced apart by their elasticity from the signal transmission medium (such as FPC or FFC), thereby causing the signal transmission medium to become in a free state.
As such, the actuator for the electric connector is operated to reciprocate between the “connection release position” and the “connection acting position” as, for example, being rotated. The actuator in the state of being moved to the “connection acting position” is disposed to be close to the printed wiring board. In particular, since the size and height of electric connectors have been significantly decreased in recent years, a gap between the actuator at the connection acting position and the printed wiring board has become extremely small. To operate this actuator in close contact with the printed wiring board, for example, as depicted in FIG. 13 showing an embodiment of the present invention, a rotating operation is often performed in which a nail of an operator is inserted in a narrow gap between the actuator and a printed wiring board P and a nail tip part of the operator is hooked at the actuator.
However, since components such as conductive contacts are disposed in the gap between the actuator and the printed wiring board, if the nail of the operator is inserted between the actuator and the printed wiring board as described above, the nail tip part of the operator may be caught in an end of a conductive contact or the like and, if the operation continues as it is, a component of the electric connector may be damaged. For example, when the actuator is rotated so as to rise upward from the “connection acting position” to the “connection release position”, the nail tip part of the operator is caught in a tip portion of a conductive contact protruding from a through hole in the actuator on a back side of the actuator and then the operation continues, thereby possibly damaging a component of the electric connector.